Ellyse Perry and Sophie Molineux have proved the Australian matchwinners with bat and ball as they inspired Royal Challengers Bangalore to the Women’s Premier League title in India.
Perry enhanced her claims to be the GOAT – greatest of all-time – in the women’s game as she completed a week of scintillating performances by guiding RCB coolly to an eight-wicket victory in Sunday’s final over her fellow luminary Meg Lanning’s Delhi Capitals, thanks to a measured finishing knock of 35no.
But the Aussie who really silenced the home Delhi fans in the Arun Jaitley Stadium was Molineux, who earlier produced one dream over of spin, taking three wickets in four balls to devastate the Capitals’ top-order and end Lanning’s ambition of a final triumph for the second year running.
After winning the toss, Lanning, playing second fiddle to the big-hitting Shafali Verma, had powered Delhi to the ideal start, blitzing to 0-64 in just seven overs.
But Molineux (3-20) struck to get Verma (44) caught on the boundary by fellow Aussie Georgia Wareham, before delvering a dot ball and then bowling the dangerous pair of Jemimah Rodrigues and Alice Capsey in successive balls.
When Lanning then got snared lbw by another spinner Shreyanka Patil for a run-a-ball 23, the heart was ripped from the Delhi innings as they crumbled from 4-74 to 113 all out off 18.3 overs. Shreyanka was outstanding with her 4-12.
Molineux also proved brilliant in the field, running out Radha Yadav with a direct hit, powering in a left-handed throw from point.
RCB’s reply was a cautious affair with Perry taking it on herself to carefully steer the ship after captain Smriti Mandhana (31) and Sophie Devine (32) had been dismissed.
Ellyse Perry. (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
But the winning line always seemed to be under her control as Perry hit four boundaries in her 37-ball knock while Richa Ghosh was an able partner, finishing 17no off 14 balls after clubbing the winning boundary with still three balls left.
“It’s pretty bonkers to be honest,” smiled Perry, who has become a cult figure among RCB’s fans.
“This is a whole other level for us and women’s cricket. The standard of cricket has been unbelievable – it’s been so much fun to play.”
And the 33-year-old Perry has, once again, been so much fun to watch, a supreme athlete who turned RCB’s fortunes earlier in the week with her astounding all-round display of mastery – a league-best 6-15 and 40no – against reigning champions Mumbai to get Bangalore to an eliminator in which she was to star again.
“We kind of crawled to that target today, but I just felt we needed to stay in the game and put away the loose balls. We got there in the end but it was probably longer than it should have been,” said Perry.
Of Molineux, she enthused: “Sophie turned the match on its head.”
Perry ended the tournament on 347 runs, nicking the orange cap as the tournament’s leading scorer from Lanning, who amassed 331.
Wareham ended up with the highest strike-rate of the season – 163.23 for the 111 runs she scored – while Molineux ended up second in the wicket-takers’ table with 12, behind Shreyanka’s 13.
© AAP
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